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Election '08

Back in the fall of 2007, I attended the Family Research Council's "Values Voter Summit." The Republican presidential field was quite crowded then, and all of the major contenders showed up to seek the Religious Right's support.

Some were received with more enthusiasm than others. Mike Huckabee was a big hit, while Fred Thompson fizzled. The reaction to U.S. Sen. John McCain was polite but restrained. Read more

The Rev. Gus Booth is one of a handful of clergy who plan to endorse political candidates from the pulpit this Sunday as part of a Religious Right scheme to turn churches into a right-wing political machine.

Booth, pastor of the Warroad Community Church in Warroad, Minn., says he has every right to tell his parishioners how to vote. Read more

The Religious Right just can't seem to give it a rest this election season.

"The Free Exercise Thereof Project," a new front group of Religious Right leaders, has just sent out an email to evangelical pastors urging them to get involved in the election process. (See a letter similar to the e-mail here.) Read more

On Friday and Saturday, I endured my first "Values Voter Summit," an annual conference where right-wing fundamentalists get to be their poisonous, partisan and propaganda-propagating selves.

That's right, these "compassionate conservatives" or good "evangelical Christian" folk tried to fool themselves and the media into believing their policies are about more than just pure hate and an unconstitutional agenda. And they failed miserably. Read more

For the past few days, both presidential candidates have been up in arms about a "lipstick on the pig" comment made by Barack Obama.

People have been wondering: does Obama's comment mean he's sexist? Is he calling Palin a pig? Or is it just an expression that the McCain camp has blown out of proportion?

Here's my thought: No matter who the pig is and what color lipstick he or she may or may not be wearing, Americans have a big decision to make come November -- and wasting even one day worrying about pigs and lipstick isn't helping this country make that decision. Read more

I'm shocked, shocked, to find that partisan political activity is going on in the Falwell religious empire.

Today's Lynchburg News & Advancereports that Joe McCain, Republican presidential candidate John McCain's brother, will be leading a public rally at Liberty University tomorrow. The candidate's sibling will also be speaking at the university's morning convocation, the newspaper said. Read more

If I were a lawyer working for the Alliance Defense Fund, saying my week was off to a bad start would be the biggest understatement of my career.

The prominent Religious Right legal group seems to have landed itself in some deep trouble after spending the last few weeks encouraging churches across the country to violate federal tax law on Sept. 28 by endorsing candidates from the pulpit. Read more

A Columbus, Ohio, minister has come up with a great idea to counter Religious Right propaganda about churches and partisan politics.

On Sept. 21, the Rev. Eric Williams, senior pastor of North Congregational United Church of Christ, is calling on pastors throughout the country to preach sermons on the importance of church-state separation. The action comes exactly one week ahead of "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," an Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) scheme to draw churches into illegal electioneering. Read more

Yesterday I received a call from an Associated Press reporter in Anchorage who wanted to talk about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's use of religious rhetoric.

A video surfaced recently of Palin, now the Republican vice presidential nominee, giving a speech to a group of ministry students at her former church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. During the talk, Palin said the war in Iraq reflects God's will – but she didn't stop there. Apparently, God's will also includes the building of a natural gas pipeline in the state. Read more